An interesting fallout took place recently involving gaming media and a certain scandalous situation that would make for a pretty good Taylor Swift song 10 years from now. I’m not going to get into the soap opera bits about the tale, but I would like to cover the more important aspects of the fallout: Indiscretions took place within the gaming industry that may have compromised how some outlets promoted, covered and supported a certain endeavor involving a certain game. The ties to the scenario and the scenario itself has mostly been kept under wraps by a lot of the larger gaming sites so as to avoid any controversy. However, the controversy seems to be coming to them.

While the situation originally unfolded with a mass amount of censorship across the internet (and as we all know, once something goes out into the internet it stays on the internet), gamers eventually began revolting by spreading the word about the attempted choke-hold placed on the discussion.

Well, one group of gamers really don’t want the whole discussion about integrity and corruption within the gaming journalism ring to fade away like Bridget Fonda’s career.

As usual, you can always count on the lovely folks at 4Chan to pull through with something that keeps people talking, and the folks from the /v/ board put together the following diagram explaining why they believe that there was such a shutdown on the discussion involving the ethics of games journalism across so many of the major gaming outlets out there. Scope it out below.

Don’t just think it’s only the 4Channers all wound up like a knitted ball in a mouse’s cubby-hole. The whole thing has spread enough to even get some indie devs dragged into the situation, even unwillingly… like this chap expressing himself on Reddit, seemingly trapped between a rock and a Facebook wall.

An anonymous, self-proclaimed female indie dev took to a Gabrielaknight WordPress blog to express her discontent with the situation, explaining that…

Despite (or rather because of) all of the pontificating by left-leaning social justice types in the game industry about oppression, the easiest way for talentless hacks to break into the indie gaming industry is to associate with the sort of hipster liberal types that are getting all the publicity for their oppression. And worse yet, they get in over people with actual skills. I had a friend in college who was an amazing 3d modeler trying to break into the industry. She was turned down repeatedly and had to settle at a shitty mobile game company making cow clickers that no one cared about.

Gamers who felt like they had something to say about the issue were instantly shutdown on places like Reddit and N4G, only to later have some form of those topics resurface again.

As I mentioned in a previous article, I don’t care about the soap opera crap. I do care about gaming as a hobby; I do love the culture and I love what video games represent. I don’t like when people try to turn it into a cesspool of greedy personal agendas and political battlefields that only aim to embitter and castrate dissenting voices about certain subject matters.

If people want to talk, let them talk.

Thankfully the smaller sites have been adamant in getting the word out there and spreading the fire like a wind in a dry forest. Places like Gamerheadlines and GameRevolution and TechRaptor have managed to offer some small overview of the situation.

Kotaku later did a brief mention about the scenario, only addressing the inaccuracies that began to spill out from the game of telephone.

Funnily enough, the whole thing seems to have gained legs based on what people didn’t want the community talking about. I’m almost curious to know what would have happened if the powers that be just let the gaming world burn with the heated discussions that lay heavy on the hearts of the community?

“I do love the culture and I love what video games represent”… do you now? Then it seems the cancer that is video gaming and the culture it represents is spreading fast…

Billy

Then it seems the cancer that is video gaming and the culture it represents is spreading fast

Heh, if it’s a cancer to the people who don’t like gaming then they better find a more stress-free hobby… like political debating.

Guest

Oh I don’t hate gaming, is at people behind it who are the cancer…for starters you.

Billy

Coip… Coip is that you? I can’t tell from all those salty tears and that butthurt avatar.

Come on out from behind that ‘Guest’ account so I can see those rosy cheeks lined with sodium chloride… my milkshake needs some spice!

Lord Darque

Nah can’t be him. To come here and challenge you takes balls. Coip lacks those. Must be some other frustrated, impotent pile of nothing.

Jason Mounce

As if Debating is ever anything but stressful. Or Politics.

I’ll love gaming – but I’ll hate majority of the communities. It’s definitely gotten a lot worse of the last 5-10 years. The more it becomes mainstream and less of a minority in a hobby people partake in, the more Extremists will show up, the more that will make it all look bad and of course the more that you’ll run into while playing games to drive you up a wall with just how mentally challenged and overly-sensitive a lot of human beings are – and how over-reactive they can become with chipped-shoulder complexes.

Of recent, I play a bit more Counter-Strike and my god, the community is mouthier and almost as miserable as CODs’. There’s so many self-entitled twats around now who trashtalk or proclaim that ‘Pretending to be mentally challenged and super-edgy’ is a hobby.

John

At least this site isnt sucking zoe`s cock and making it out like she is a victim.

https://twitter.com/SurtGodsEnd DemonRonin

Awesome read. I can’t respect the SJW. Mostly cause of the glass houses they build around themselves. “I can say voice my opinion to you, but you better not do it to me” And if you do.. “check your privilege” LOL And I do actually. As a Hispanic, and half Scottish person I enjoy mine very much.

Billy

I don’t mind anyone having a strong opinion about anything, or voicing that opinion. But as you mentioned, it’s when it comes at the expense of preventing others from having an opposing opinion (or shutting down platforms for them to express it) that makes it a troubling trend.

So long as it’s not blatant hate-speech I don’t see why people can’t simply say what they want?

JudgeLOL

“So long as it’s not blatant hate-speech I don’t see why people can’t simply say what they want?”
Isn’t that what you always do?

Billy

Moi? Hate-speech? I show a lot of love and support for the “Banana Surprise”.

Lord Darque

Hate speech as defined by USLegal.com…

“Hate speech is a communication that carries no meaning other than the expression of hatred for some group, especially in circumstances in which the communication is likely to provoke violence. It is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual
orientation, and the like. Hate speech can be any form of expression regarded as offensive to racial, ethnic and religious groups and other discrete minorities or to women.”

M$ is none of those things.

Microsoft brought this on themselves and dumping on them is not hate speech. People have very valid reasons for disliking both the company and what they have tried to do with the Xbone.

I believe strongly that our rights as US Citizens matter and are regularly under assault. What M$ tried to do pissed me the fuck off and I want to see them suffer for it to teach them a lesson. Every shot William takes they have earned.

Tbh, there aren’t any actual code of ethics that any of those sites are bound to follow. They should, but they don’t have to. They are perfectly within their rights to give away coverage for whatever they want, have sex with developers or pay them. And if people feel like the stuff is false or uninteresting they can tune out. I feel like a lot of this anger is unnecessary. Appreciate the effort on the infographic though.